CAIRO: The Arab League stressed on Tuesday the importance of activating the One Health approach at all national, regional, and global levels to ensure a healthy, safe, and dignified life for humans while preserving the health of animals and the environment alike to reduce the risk of disease and epidemic outbreaks. Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector at the Arab League, Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, said in a statement that Arab countries celebrate on Wednesday, September 4, Arab Health Day, which comes this year under the slogan ‘Promoting the One Health Approach’.

The celebration slogan was approved by the Council of Arab Health Ministers in its regular session, which was held in Geneva on May 26, which included the first paragraph approving Egypt’s request to host the celebration, noting that choosing September 4 of each year as Arab Health Day is in line with the activities marking the anniversary of the founding of the Council of Arab Health Ministers.

Abu-Ghazaleh explained that the One Health Approach is an integrated approach that aims to achieve a balance between human and animal health and uses the close and interconnected links between these fields to create new methods for monitoring and combating diseases to improve global health, as lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

She stressed the importance of supporting cooperation between different sectors in member states to bridge the gaps in implementing the One Health Approach, especially since the health systems cannot alone confront epidemics and health pandemics. She explained that the Council of Arab Health Ministers is working to promote the One Health Approach by adopting various strategies, activating the work of its committees, and enhancing partnership with all parties and stakeholders to reduce public health threats. - KUNA